15

Self-birthing of adept or master long, slow process. Like water: takes one calorie of heartto raise one gram by one degree centigrade from zero to 99 degrees; however, toachieve change of state from water to gas (steam), or 99 to 100 degrees Celsius, requireshundreds of calories per gram of water. As temperature raises nothing seems to happen(“Watched pot never boils”). When 99 degrees is reached, the next degree cannot beachieved without massive effort and energy. “Takes a community to raise a master.”Even so, the impact on society is localized and small.

16

Barbara Marx Hubbard: When enough individuals achieve “criticality,” like Uraniumatoms in a nuclear reactor, a chain reaction is ignited. Thus society itself can besignificantly transformed by many individual spiritual achievements.

17

By bringing together valid lineages of many initiatic traditions, Pansophic Freemasonrymakes available and focuses powerful forces of spiritual transformation that provide themassive energies needed for individuals to transcend, like the change of phase from 99-degree water to 100-degree steam.

18

In addition, in Pansophic Freemasonry all of the initiatic curriculums, or what we call theGrail Paths, have been improved, adapted for modern 21st century women and men, andtaken to their higher octaves. We are not merely reverting to antiquated spiritualtraditions, but building upon the best and most relevant in proven pathways of spiritualevolution from the Western Initiatic Tradition.

19

Initiation is authorization from the eggregore or chain of lineage holders of a givenspiritual tradition to receive its esoteric teachings and carry out its spiritual practices.

20

Within the Western Mystery Tradition is contained a deep body of Eastern initiatictradition as well, beginning with Pythagoras, continued through the Knights Templar, andadvanced through later eggregores like the Rosicrucian Asiatic Bretheren and the InnerSchool of the Theosophical Society.

21

Valid admission to an initiatic school opens an individual to the invisible help andguidance of all Initiates of that school, in or out of body. It also entrusts an individualwith access the specific psychic and spiritual powers to be developed.

22

Initiates make a solemn commitment to keep secret all the practices that are revealed tothem, although they may discuss the philosophical and metaphysical teachings of aninitiatic school with non-Initiates. They are also expected to make progress through thecurriculum and practices within a reasonable period of time defined by each school. Ifeither of these commitments is violated, an Initiate may be demitted from the Order byfiat of the Grand Master.

23

Simply having access to initiatic teachings and practices through books or individualswho have been demitted from an Order does not empower an individual to makespiritual progress by this means. The invisible chain of lineage in any valid esotericschool comprises many advanced souls, in and out of body, whose psychic guidance andspiritual forces and needed to empower their teachings and practices. Authorization topractice comes only through valid Initiation, and that only through authorized,chartered, and warranted lineage holders. The 22 Pansophic Rites of Freemasonry werecollected in the late 19th century by Bro. John Yarker of the London Lodge and passedforward through a series of trustees with the title Vicarius Solomonis to Temple of theHoly Grail and Grand Master Bro. Lewis Keizer who, with Count George Boyer, charteredthem to the new Pansophic obedience of Freemasonry. To these other valid charterswere added by Templar Bishops Keizer, Whitworth, Zohariel, and Keach, each of whomserves as Grand Master of one or more initiatic lineages.

24

In the ancient world, the great mystery schools of Egypt and Greece privately invitedoutstanding individuals to be initiated for esoteric training. In medieval Europe,outstanding individuals (later only Master Masons) were selected. The goal of thisprocess was to train aspirants who had potential to become adepts and lineageholders—one person, and one soul, at a time.

25

In the Speculative or Symbolic Freemasonry of the 17th century and later, the goal was tobring together a dynamic brotherhood of remarkable people (usually men) for moral-spiritual training that could prepare them for significant roles in an increasinglydemocratic society. It was Freemasonry that provided the infant United States with itspolitical philosophy, electoral practices, and major leadership in the New World.

26

The Graal is a Germanic term for the body of pre-Christian spiritual knowledge andtraining transmitted through surviving mystery traditions from three cultural roots: 1,the Hermetic, Pythagorean, alchemical, theurgical, magical, gnostical, and other initiaticschools that abandoned Alexandria in third and fourth century persecutions forsanctuary in the Upper Nile cities like Achmim; 2. the shamanic and herbal wisdom thatwas assimilated from Druidic lineages into in Celtic Christianity after its founding bywandering saints of the “heretical” school of Arius in what is now France, England, andGermany; and 3. the inner schools architecture and the Knighthood of the Pactio Secretatransmitted through Roman and Comacine Freemasonry.

27

The building arts were highly developed in Egypt, Persia, Greece, and Rome. Egyptianarchitects and builders, like all other members of the Priesthood, were chosen from thebest and brightest young boys of Egypt. They were taken from their homes, extensivelytrained, and taught from the richness of their own initiatic traditions. Persian buildersformed a division of Zoroastrian Priesthood. Greek and Roman architects and builderswere trained in their own sacred guilds, with the first-born son having priority forinitiation into the training. A three-stage initiation was used. It is of such great antiquitythat we read details of its customs in poetic works about the initiation of demigods andgoddesses into immortality. Ovid describes Medea as, “…arm, breast, and knee madebare, left foot slipshod,” and Virgil speaks of Dido, “…now resolute on death, having onefoot bare…” The same modalities were used in the Lesser Eleusinian Mysteries on themodel of the Initiation of Herakles (Hercules). Modern Freemasons will recognize theseas the modes of dress used in the Rite of Destitution. These were not self-consciouslyrestored by 17th century English Freemasons—they existed from time immemorial. Wefind an image of an Apprentice being initiated this way in Operative Masonry on a wallcarving at Rosslyn Chapel hundreds of years before Speculative Freemasonry wasestablished in England.

28

Initiatic tradition was well established in prehistoric shamanism. Its next evolution wasin the mystery religions of Egypt and Greece. These were suppressed by Christianity.While the Eleusinian Mysteries came to an end by the fifth century of the Christian era,other forms were preserved, transmitted, and developed in safe cities and secretsocieties.

29

We know that there was continuity of the building arts and its trade guilds fromantiquity, thus perhaps the longest lineage of initiatic tradition known to the West.However it was not documented in writings, but in buildings, chapels, castles, and greatcathedrals. Mar Yeshua, the Master Jesus, was the first-born son of Joseph, who was nota carpenter, but a stone mason. Trees were few and far between in the Galilee, butstone was plentiful, and it was the main building material. Joseph is called a tekton,which means a skilled artisan and builder. His lineage was traced through Zerubbabel,who was the Master in charge of establishing the knowledge of Masonry in Israel afterthe Babylonian Captivity for the rebuilding of the Second Temple. The first Temple ofSolomon was built by foreigners because there was no tradition of Freemasonry in Israelat 1000 B.C.E. It was brought into Israel half a millennium later by Joseph’s directancestor, Zerubbabel (cf. Matthew. 1.11-15). It would have been carried as an initiaticguild tradition from generation to generation through the first-born sons down to Jesus,who was also a Mason. Their traditions were lost when the Jewish nation was exiled bythe Romans in the second century, but it undoubtedly included a secret oral tradition orkabala named in honor of Zerubbabel.

30

Legend, most of it documented in Italian, tells us that after the fall of Rome, its buildersand architects retreated to a safe stronghold on Lake Como in the Lombard Kingdom ofNorthern Italy, where there were rock quarries and defensible quarters. According tosome sources, the Roman Knights of the Pactio Secreta, who opposed the Christiandesecration of traditional sacred sites and so-called pagan religion, dwelt also at LakeComo as defenders. Pansophic Freemasons are initiated into the +OMR+, which is theonly a legal and valid European chivalric order of the Pactio Secreta, which was restoredby Emperor Frederick II von Hohenstaufen in his 13th century campaigns to defendancient Germany from the incursion of Catholic Papal political power and military forces.

31

The Knights Templar were one of the many Christian and Islamic chivalric ordersassembled by von Hohenstaufen at his octagonal Castella del Monte in Apuleia, Italy, inhis attempt to establish a kind of ecumenical United Nations of Grand Masters (PactioSecreta). The Templars were founded in religious vows of poverty written by St. Bernard.They were so poor that their symbol was two knights mounted on one horse. Theircharge was to defend the pilgrimage route to Jerusalem. Over time they were initiatedinto the Grail traditions of the Middle East, carried a secret Gnostic Episcopal lineagefrom the suppressed Johannite Church of Asia Minor, and grew very wealthy. Theydeveloped close ties with the building guilds of France, known as the Companions, andraised huge forts along the pilgrimage route.

32

Finally they financed and built most of the great cathedrals of Europe such as NotreDame and Chartres (that is why they were known as Templars or Temple Builders).When Philip the Fair of France conspired with the Pope to destroy the Templar Orderwith a Nazi-like Friday the 13th midnight raid to capture and torture all Templars, to forcethem to confess being heretics, then to claim all divide all their wealth, a few Templarships escaped to England, Scotland, and Portugal.

33

They were hidden and protected by the Companions and other building guilds. Here thelink between Freemasonry, Knights Templar, and secret initiatic schools becomes astrong bond that lasted throughout European history. Speculative Freemasonry is repletewith artifacts of this association. We will look at Rosslyn Chapel later in this presentationto examine the confluence of Templar and Masonic initiatic rites.

34

The Court of King James I, whose financial manager Lord Bacon oversaw translation of the KingJames Bible and was the driving force for English colonization of the New World (Jamestown),was under increasing attack by the Puritan movement. Sir Francis Bacon finally sacrificed himselfand “took the rap” for the financial excesses of King James and disappeared in great dishonor.Yet he was a secret Rosicrucian adept, likely author of many of the works attributed theShakespeare, and probable founder of what would be later known as Speculative Freemasonry.Lord Cromwell and the Puritans beheaded James’ successor, Charles, and the twenty-year reignof Cromwell and the Puritans commended in England. They believed (correctly) that Christmaswas a pagan holiday, so forbad its celebration. On Christmas eve government police rodethrough London crying “No Christmas! No Christmas!” Cromwell’s Puritan regime alsosuppressed Rosicrucians and other proponents of the Hermetic Sciences (who were alreadypersecuted by the Catholic Inquisition on the Continent). It was illegal for “heretics” to convenein public assembly. In this political climate, the inheritors of the Grail traditions were once againprotected by the building trades—but this time in a new way. Freemasons were allowed toconvene publicly in local pubs. So the nobles who had been their patrons now became legalinitiates of Freemasonry and conducted their secret meetings legally. This was the origin ofSpeculative, Philosophical, or Symbolic Freemasonry, as opposed to Operative Freemasonry. Inthis way, the Grail traditions were carried on secretly but legally with doors “tyled” or properlyguarded against spies or “cowens” who might be sent by the government. Today Freemasonry iscomprised entirely of “philosophers” who have no connection to the building trades other thansymbolic. Thus the first philosophical form of Freemasonry assimilated both traditional initiaticrites and knowledge of the builders such as geometry, and Hermetic sciences such as alchemy,kabbala, and astrology. The initiation as a Master Mason preserved the ancient mysterymodalities for being raised from darkness into light, and from death into life, along with thebuilder’s spiritual and moral legends of Hiram Abif and the building of Solomon’s Temple.

35

In the next century, Freemasonry developed the egalitarian social political philosophythat would guide the establishment and electoral process for the United States. It alsomemorialized the great European initiatic schools in its “higher degrees” containingRosicrucian, Templar, and other schools in abbreviated form. At this time secretIlluminist Masonic orders were created from Pythagorean, Kabbalistic, Rosicrucian, andTemplar lineages such as the Fratres Lucis, the Elus Cohen, and the beginnings of whatwould later be known as Martinism. One of the great Illuminist reformers was theCompte de St.-Germain, who worked for many years through Marie Antionette toforestall conditions leading to the bloody French Revolution.

36

Freemasons guided the principles of the French Revolution which, however, was co-opted by radical chapters like that of Robespierre who beheaded and murdered themore rational Freemasons of the Enlightenment or Illuminist schools who opposed theirgenocidal civil war. After the liberation of France, the Inquisition came to and end alongwith all Papal power. This allowed the suppressed European Grail schools, the Hermeticand Gnostic initiatic orders, to come out of hiding. With this, Freemasonry brought fortha panoply of higher-degree orders known today as Ultra-Masonic Orders such as theEgytpian Rites of Memphis and Mizraim.

37

During the nineteenth century women were initiated into a woman’s form ofFreemasonry by certain French orders, but the English stoutly refused to initiate women.The Americans developed Masonic auxiliaries for their wives, but did not initiate them.Finally an entire lodge of French Masons voted to form a mixed lodge of men andwomen under the banner of Theosophy, and the “Human Rights” or obeience known asCo-Masonry was created. However, its traditions were based solely in Theosophy anddid not transmit true Freemasonry. Later in the century a new obedience known as theLoge Mixte de France was formed to transmit true Masonic tradition equally to womanand men. Today it is one of the largest Freemasonic obediences or denominations of theGrand Orient of France, which is the union of all major types of French Freemasonry. Itwas the Grand Lodge of the Mixed Lodge of France that came to California twice at theirown expense—nine men and woman Masters—to establish our Grand Lodge.

38

After a year we were forced by circumstances to re-organize as Pansophic Freemasonry,and we brought together the full lineages of the esoteric Grail traditions as Paths ofadvancement for 21st century initiates.

39

The form of initiation used in modern Freemasonry did not originate with thespeculative masonry of seventeenth-century England. It was carried forward fromantiquity. The initiatic attire of bare knee, bare breast (shoulder), with one shoe off(“slipshod”) are used in Freemasonry to represent spiritual poverty, blindness, andcaptivity to the illusions of the profane world, from which the candidate seeks liberationand “more Light.” But in the practices of the ancient mystery religions, in whichcandidates died and were raised with their gods, and in the identity of their gods, themodality of “arm, breast, knee made bare and one foot slipshod,” this symbolized thepassing of a spirit into death for the ultimate purpose of being raised an eternal god. Itwas the ancient modality of the candidate for initiation in the sacred orgies of certaingods. Medea was an adept who undertook initiation and became a demigoddess. Theverses of Ovid that I have quoted earlier preserve for us the unique modality that liveson in Freemasonry.

40

There were many mystery cults—Eleusinian, Samothracian, etc.—and there were manymodalities of dress for a candidate. The standard that we know from many of them isthe simple white cotton robe. But in the inner circles of ancient guilds (medical, warrior,priestly, builders) there were quite different rites not normally preserved to moderntimes. In the case of builders, architects, and stone-masons, however, we have anotable exception because they were needed and supported by rulers in every time andplace. Thus there has always been continuity down through history in the skillsassociated with temple, fortress, and other building. These skills and their deposit ofspiritual guild knowledge have been transmitted from father to son through initiation.

41

Their rites were secret. The only glimpse we have into their workings is left behind intheir special glyphs and marks left on buildings, with some exceptions in legend andinscribed on the walls of Rosslyn Chapel near Edinborough, Scotland.

42

Their Masters were called “Free Masons” because, unlike any other class ofworkmen, they could travel freely from kingdom to kingdom, border to border. Inancient Rome they created all the wonders of architecture—temples,colosseums, palaces. They did the same for all the Roman colonies around theMediterranean. In a later age they designed and built mosques for the Moslems,Gothic cathedrals for Europeans, palaces, castles, Vatican City. Wealthy rulersand nobility sought their services and provided them with decades of buildingprojects.

43

What of the early European and English Grail traditions? Druidic and Pict initiatic schoolsassimilated with Celtic Christianity in ancient Gaul and England. The shamanic symbolsof magical cauldron and sacred well were integrated with native Christian mysticismunder Gallican Merovingian and legendary English and Welsh Arthurian dynasties.

44

Many centuries later the legends of Uther, the English hero who drove back the Vikings,would be remembered as the epic tales of King Arthur and integrated into chivalrictraditions of knighthood. The Knights of the Round Table would set forth on “quests”that would result in spiritual tests and achievements allegorized by battles, contests,seemingly insoluble problems and games, and the psychological intricacies of courtlylove. The Quest of the Holy Grail, which is later symbolized by the cup used by Jesus forthe last supper, and into which Joseph of Arimathea is said to have collected thepowerful, magical, and healing blood of crucifixion, conflates Celtic legends of the divinecauldron with paths of initiation for each of the questing knights—Lancelot, Percival(Parsifal), Tristan (Tristram), Galahad. The Holy Grail is a quest in which life itselfbecomes the mystery school. The Arthurian legends include the Quest of the Holy Grailas only one of many literary themes—and a late one. The true Graal traditions had littleor nothing to do with the Arthurian stories that popularized the phrase “Holy Grail.”

45

In the 9th century Charlemagne led his knights in battles against the incursion of Moslemwarriors into Spain and France. He needed some form of “Holy Blood” to counter theMerovingian claim that the blood of Jesus flowed to them through ancestors begottenby the son of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. This was not true—the claim is not made untilfourth or fifth centuries, but it was a superstition that made the Merovingians seeminglyinvincible in the eyes of the people. Charlemange’s solutions included several relics—theTrue Cross with the blood of Christ, the foreskin of Christ from his circumcision, kept in agolden reliquary, and the Spear of Longinus which pierced the heart of Christ. But hisultimate solution was the transubstantiated blood of Christ in the Eucharistic cup ofRoman Papal Christianity, to which he made obesience and allowed himself to becrowned Holy Roman Emperor by the Pope on Christmas day of the year A.D. 800.Charlemage’s Bishop Alcuin then went on a campaign to destroy the native CelticChristianity.

46

This was done in vicious attacks on Celtic sacred sites. The Priests of Celtic Christianitywere then forced to learn Latin and Catholic theology in the Canons of the Cathedrals,which would eventually develop into the great universities of Europe. Little did Alcuinrealize that educating the clergy (originally meant to propagandize them) would one dayproduce an heretical movement known as the Renaissance, which in turn would give riseto Protestantism!

47

In 11th and 12th centuries, many courts supported alchemists, sorcerers, specialists inherbs and potions. They transmitted the old knowledge and arts. Alchemical researchwas a major precursor of the scientific study of nature.

48

Many made contact with the migrants from India who began to appear in Roumania bythe 9th century—the so-called Gypsies. They brought with them their Eastern philosophy,religion, and psychic arts. In the villages and areas outside of major cities, the commonpeople retained their ancient practices of the Old Religion that pre-dated CatholicChristianity. Communities of “heretical” Christians occupied large areas of SouthernFrance, Bulgaria, Roumania. These were the Gnostic Albigensians or Cathars.

49

Local villages produced their own prophets, many of them women who spoke in trancethrough the Holy Spirit, or who transmitted a more ancient form of Christianity based onteachings of earlier wise men and women saints. The roots of Germanic Protestantmysticism that would later inform Boehme and other mystics were growing.

50

The brilliant Emperor Frederick II von Hohenstaufen surrounded himself with seers,necromancers, alchemists, astrologers, and Kabbalists who taught and initiated him inthe Grail traditions. He steeped himself in the legends of King Arthur and the Knights ofthe Round Table, studied the Golden Number with Leonardo Fibonacci, the Pisanmathemati­cian, corresponded with Juda Cohen, the Jewish scholar of Toledo, andconsulted the most famous occultists of his time: Ezzelino da Romano, Guido Bonatti,Ripran­dino of Verona. He sent to Bagdahl for the Saracen magi­cian Paul, and toEngland for Michael Scot, an illusionist and a master of ‘diabolical knowledge.’ Hispersonal advisor was Theodore, a Greek scbolar and expert in all the arts, whoconcocted strange drinks, love potions, magic sweets, and a ‘violet sugar’ whosewondrous powers equaled that of the elixir of youth. He revived and convened thePactio Secreta, and he spent his career defending Germanic territory from Papalincursion.

51

But the Papal forces were determined to eradicate these many weeds that threatened toundermine Catholic teaching. First they tried persuasion, sending trained and eloquentscholars out to the villages to convert the people from their heresies. But these peacefulemissaries were not well received, and the campaign was a failure.

52

Next the police forces of the Inquisition were sent into towns and hamlets to seek out,try, and publicly execute leaders of the various heresies. They were hanged and burnedbefore whole villages as terrifying examples of spiritual disobedience.

53

It was in this climate that the Order of the Knights Templar was established. Here we seetheir symbol of poverty—two knights seated upon one horse. Also we see the TemplarCross. They were a new form of chivalry—both military and monastic.

54

The Rules for their Order were written by the politically powerful St. Bernard ofClairveaux, who remained a champion of the Order to the Pope until his death.

55

The Knights Templar, or Poor Knights of Christ, were fierce warriors dedicated toprotecting pilgrims traveling between Europe and Jerusalem. Their great fortresses werebuilt by the French Companions or Masons.

56

But in their far journeys into Greece, Asia Minor, and the Middle East, they wereexposed to, and initiated into, many of the ancient Grail traditions. Above we see aversion of Baphomet, drawn by the French occultist Eliphas Levi from a gargoyle on aTemplar building. It seems to represent the androgynous Horned God of the Old Religionelaborated with alchemical symbolism. To Catholics it was a representation of the devil,much as Indian and Tibetan deities might seem today. To the Templars it was a highlysymbolic and esoteric representation of the powers of Nature. Using a commonKabbalistic anagrammic code of the time, the word Baphomet may represent theHebrew word Hockmah, Wisdom, or (in Greek) Sophia. Next to that image above is arepresentation of the Mandylion with the Face of Christ. It was kept for many centuriesin Constantinople—a mysterious cloth folded into eights that came from the firstChristian Kingdom of Abgar in Edessa and was supposed to contain a miraculous imageof Jesus’ face. The Knights Templar were sent to fight the Battle of Constantinopleagainst Moslem forces, but many of the Knights sacked the city when it was clear theMoslems would overrun it. After this battle the Mandylion disappeared. Manygenerations later, when the Templars were accused of heresy by the Inquisition, someconfessed that they worshipped a head of some sort. After the downfall of the Templarsand the death of the second in command of the Order, his destitute wife sold a relic tothe House of Turin in order to have income to survive. Today it is known as the Shroud ofTurin. It shows marks of having been folded into eights so that just the face would show.However, the face is an indistinct smudge.

57

When photography was invented many centuries later, it was discovered that thephotographic negative of the Shroud yielded a very clear and faithful image. It is the faceof a crucified Jewish man. Shroud studies today are extensive and all evidence points toits being the authentic burial shroud of Jesus, and the image being that of the actualface of Jesus. It was the divine man behind this image that the Templars worshipped intheir mystic initiations.

58

The partnership of Stone Masons and Knights Templar enriched not only the sacredarchitecture of Europe, but also revived the secret legacy of ancient Grail traditions. Acentury after the attempt to crush Templar heresy, the Grail traditions had grownstronger than ever. In 1498 a group of Florentine noblemen and women organized asecret society to purchase the rumored Corpus Hermeticum from Islamic scholars andtranslate it from the Greek. Their society was called the Fratres Lucis, “Brothers(meaning also Sisters) of Light.” The manuscripts were purchased and translated by theItalian scholar Ficino. They were quickly distributed widely and initiated what is nowknown as the Hermetic Renaissance in Europe and England. Several centuries later theFratres Lucis, which survives even to this century, would be memorialized in the MasonicOrder of Fraters Lucis, which consolidated much of the democratic polictical philosophywas to guide the framers of the United States Constitution. In America the Fratris Lucisestablished the first American academic honor society, which survives today as Phi BetaKappa.

59

In the midnight raids of Friday the 13th, most members of the Order were imprisonedand accused of heresy. These knights were tortured for weeks, months, and even yearsto extract confessions from their broken minds and hearts—confessions that werepublicized widely to justify destruction of the Templars as devil worshippers. But GrandMaster Jacques DeMolay, who had confessed to many things under torture, regained hislucidity when dragged out to be publicaly burned, and he loudly proclaimed that theTemplars were guilty of only one sin—that of confessing to false accusations undertorture.

60

Many Templars escaped in ships to Portugal and the British Isles, where today can beseen Templar cemeteries, buildings, chapels, and other artifacts. The Order survivedwith the help of the building guilds and continued in clandestine modalities.

61

Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland was built by the Sinclair family of Templars in the fourteen-hundreds. They were protectors of Gypsies and honorary Grand Masters of the localMasonic guild. Here on the walls of this Templar chapel is a stone carving of an initiationceremony. Note the bare chest, hoodwink, kneeling position, cable-tow held by guide,and left hand on sacred book. It is the Masonic Initiation, whose roots are in antiquity.But is it a Mason who is being initiated, or is it a Templar? Or Both? Note the cross wornon the guide’s vestment. There is no Masonic apron. In any case, it is clear that Templarand Masonic initiatic ritual was somehow combined—perhaps the guide is a Templar.Today the Sinclair family maintains a Templar Order.

62

Note that the Templar Cross is embedded into the architectural design of RosslynChapel, which is constructed of rude flying butresses.

63

The story of the Apprentice’s Pillar seems to be a precursor to the legend of Hiram Abiffthat appears later in Masonry. Here, the Master is called away on a mission and theApprentice is asked to do specific work on the pillar but not to finish it. When theirMaster returns, the pillar is done beautifully—far beyond the skill of the Master. Out ofrage and jealousy he bludgeons the Apprentice to death with a tool (a Hiram Abiffmotif?). Note also the interweaving of Old Religion Graal themes like the Green Man(face above). The Green Man was probably a counterpart to Baphomet in ScottishTemplar symbolism.

64

The sixteenth century saw the rise of the Hermetic Renaissance, Paracelsian medicine,and is the time that legendary Rosicrucian founder Christian Rosenkreuz is said to havetraveled the world, been rejected, established his initiatic school, and trained hissuccessors. The Grail wisdom that had fallen into the hands of Moslem scholars has nowreturned to the West.

65

After the reign of King James and before the rise of Cromwell’s England, Rosicruciantracts circulated widely on the Continent and in England. Here we see the FamaFraternitatis first public announcement of the secret society’s founding and existence.Also tracts of Robert Fludd on Hermetic and Kabbalistic philosophy.

66

Now that the Grail traditions were considered to be evil, of the devil, and heretical byboth the Catholic Inquisition (held sway over Continental Europe) and CromwellianEnglish Puritanism, and public meetings of heretics were outlawed, nobility who wantedto learn and work in alchemy and the Hermetic sciences did so in the privacy of theirestates and met publicly under the umbrella of Operative Masonry, into which they werenow “symbolically” initiated. The earliest lodges of so-called Speculative Masons met inLondon, where they were free to discuss and investigate the unholy sciences.

67

Many continental nobles traveled to London for initiation and fraternal interaction. Thepolitical ideals of Rosicrucianism had been crushed in recent European wars, and eventhe most diligent seekers were unable to locate true Rosicrucian lodges. In fact, theywere probably literary fictions, although by the 18th century such lodges did develop.

68

It was through public meetings, networking of Hermetic enthusiasts, and sharing ofbooks and information facilitated by Speculative Freemasonry that the Grail traditionsdeveloped both in England and on the Continent.

69

After the downfall of Cromwell and the restoration of the monarchy, SpeculativeFreemasonry expanded widely on the British Isles, in Continental Europe, Russia, andthe Mediterranean. One of the most significant Masonic developments in England wasthe establishment of the first British scientific societies.

70

Speculative Freemasonry retained the craft symbols of Operative Masonry, whichalready had symbolic interpretation, but further assimilated them into the spiritualsciences to create the spiritual allegories of “symbolic” Masonry, first and foremostbeing the Temple of Solomon, which was the legendary birthplace of Operative Masonryaccording to English craftsmen whose only knowledge of history was through the KingJames Bible. The two great Pillars or Columns that the Bible describes on either side ofthe entrance were known as Boaz and Jachin. Speculative Masons invested them withthe meanings of Christian Cabala, relating them to Hesed and Geburah—Mercy andJudgment. The great spiritual allegory was that each person is building the divine templeof his own soul. Within each soul there is a Boaz and Jachin, as well as an entrance, analtar, sacred lights, and a sacred book of law inscribed upon the heart. The basic moralteachings of brotherhood, fidelity, loyalty to brother Masons that already existed inOperative Masonry and were related to the “tools” of the Apprentice, the Fellowcraft,and the Master, were now further elaborated.

71

The rough, unshaped granite rock was known as an ashlar. The duty of the Apprenticewas to carve it into a smooth ashlar suitable for fitting and joining into the walls of theTemple. The stone mason’s lambskin apron was decorated with symbols representingstages of initiation and spiritual illumination. The “lights” of Masonry, represented bySun, Moon, and Lodge Master, were arranged to the East (towards Jerusalem). The Bookof the Law (usually a Bible, but later on might be the Masonic Rule Book) was set uponan altar where the Masonic Oaths of Initiation and Advancement were taken in symbolicpostures “on the square.” The trowel symbolized the brotherly love and loyalty expectedof all (mortar that binds the stones), and Geometry—the science of the architect, whodesigned ad quatratus (following principles of Sacred Geometry) using the PythagoreanTheorem and others to create structure growing mathematically and organically from abasic square.

72

Brotherhood of the guild was expanded into political concepts of the Brotherhood ofMankind. The top hat worn by the middle class bourgeoisie, so symbolic in the Americanand French revolution, was the proud vestment of the Lodge Master. Deist concepts ofGod that would come to full flower in the scientific revolution of the 18th century weresymbolized by the All-Seeing Eye that still peers from the Masonic pyramid on U.S. $1bills. Symbols reminding that one must not waste the little time he has in life toaccomplish good (hourglass, father time and his harvesting scythe), the inevitability ofdeath (skull, weeping widow at the broken pillar), the hope for life after death (the sprigof acacia), the square and compass with neither, one, or both points revealed dependingupon stage of initiation—all these and many more became part of the teaching of thephilosophical Freemasons.

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Freemasonry developed in France through charters by nobility. While the English lodgemasters were elected, the French lodges were often more occult and under thedirection of a Grand Master appointed for life. Originally this was on the basis that hewas an adept of the occult and Hermetic sciences, but later such royal appointmentswere abused and the French Masons began to demand elections. French custom alliedFreemasonry more closely to chivalry, and their rites involved the use of swords. Abovewe see a French rite of Raising a Master Mason, who lies symbolically dead in the tombof Hiram Abiff. French Masons also made far more use of candle light than the English.In Pansophic Masonry we have inherited the customs of French Masonry for Initiation ofan Entered Apprentice from our founding body, the Grand Mixed Lodge of France.

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The Trestle or Tracing Board is a pattern of symbols used for advancement into secondand third degrees by means of certain steps and postures. It is an ancient institution inOperative Masonry, and it represents the architect’s designing board—in this case, forthe Grand Architect of the Universe, or God.

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Thus modern Freemasonry derives its teachings and symbols from both the building artsand the Grail traditions. Understanding Masonic symbolism is a grand study.

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While women were excluded from Freemasonry in England, institutions were developedfor women in France. It was also in France that the first male-female Masonicobediences were founded, and among French Freemasons that religious exclusion wasended. In the later 19th century the Grand Orient of France agreed to accept Buddhist,Hindu, and other religious adherents, dropping the specifically Judeo-Christianterminology and allowing sacred bibles of other religions to be used on the altar for theOaths. Above you see representations of certain initiatic rites, postures, and altarconfigurations.

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The leaders of the American Revolution were mostly Freemasons. Ben Franklin wasLodge Master both in the U.S. and in France. George Washington was a Lodge Masterand active Mason. Masonic ideals of government, election, equality, separation ofchurch and state, etc. are written into the U.S. Constitution because most of thefounders were Freemasons (exception of Jefferson). While in Europe, Masonic halls wereunmarked for fear of the Inquisition, American lodges proudly displayed the symbol “G”(God or Geometry) with Compass and Square. What was risky in Europe became openand free in the U.S. Even today European lodges do not display any special markings. The“tyling” or guarding of the door and Masonic secrecy were extremely important inCromwell’s England and in Europe under the Inquisition, but they continued to bemaintained in the U.S. But the United States was understood to be Lord Bacon’s NewAtlantis, the New World for a New Humanity. On U.S. dollar bills we still display theMasonic motto, Novus Ordo Seculorum, “A New Order of the Ages.” Freemasonry wasthe New Age movement of its time.

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Because the French Masons helped the American Masons win an almost hopelessrevolutionary war against the mighty British (all the leaders on all side were Masons:Washington, Cornwallis, etc.), American and French Masons remained in amity, i.e.,mutual recognition and visitation rights.

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But the British did not recognize French Masonry for political reasons even before theAmerican Revolution, and when later in the nineteenth century the French allowed non-Christians to be initiated, the British withdrew any recognition of French Masonry.

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But the Americans remain in amity with both French and British even to the 21st century.Thus my first lodge in Bellingham, WA (Fairview), always welcomed a lodge master fromFrance with grand honors when he visited—although they probably didn’t realize that hewas a Master of the Mixed Lodge, which makes women Masons! Since the Mixed Lodgeis part of the Grand Orient or union of all major and recognized Masonic obediences inFrance, would they have accorded Grand Honors to one of the female Masters?

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Freemasonry developed all over the world in 19th and 20th centuries. Each of these was aseparate denomination or “obedience.” The convention that developed was this: Whenvisiting a lodge of another obedience, you must obey the rules of that obedience. If onetransferes from one obedience into another, one is bound by the Oath of that newobedience while operating within its lodges.

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Thus the possibility opens for regular Masons of traditional American or Englishobediences to join Pansophic without breaking the Oaths they have sworn to theiroriginal obediences.

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The informal arrangement we made with the Grand Lodge of F&AM in California is this:Don’t ask, don’t tell. In other words, the issue of female Masons is a sore point sinceevery F&AM Master takes the Anti-Co-Masonic Vow not to make a woman a Mason.This chauvinist vow is not ancient with Masonry, but a recent development in Englishand American Masonry. Also, American Masonic obediences may lose their non-profitstatuses eventually because women sue them for discrimination. It has happened to theElks Club and many other Masonic spin-offs, who have been forced to recognize womenequally by federal courts. It will eventually happen to American Freemasonry, whichcurrently has only womens’ auxiliaries. What is more, how will American Masons handlevisits by French women Masons when that finally arises? We believe that male-femaleFreemasonry is one major reform that can help revive this failing institution, and that areturn to the study of spiritual sciences is the other. That is why we have establishedPansophic Freemasonry.

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Founded as Grand Lodge #1 St. Germain in Santa Cruz (Dr. Lewis Keizer Grand Master) bythe Grande Loge Mixte de France Saturday, August 27, 1997, after a year of preliminarydiscussions and a previous visit of eight officers of the French Grand Lodge in December,1996.

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Clandestine support by national Masonic organization in Alexandria, VA; Informaldiscussions with AF&M Grand Lodge with “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

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Charter revoked one year later by newly elected officers of Grand Lodge (election issue)

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Immediately re-chartered by Count Boyer and unanimous vote of Masters as newMasonic obedience inheriting the Pansophic Lineages organized by Bro. John Yarker ofthe London Lodge a century earlier.

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MASONIC: Ancient and Primitive Rite; Rite of Memphis; Rite of Mizraim; Ancient andAccepted Scottish Rite; Swedenborgian Rite; the United Templar Lodge.

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ULTRA-MASONIC: Order of the Illuminati; Order of the Martiniste; Order of the RoseCroix of Hiredom; Order of the True Rosy Cross; Order of the Ecclesiae RosicrucianaeCatholicae; Order of the Holy Royal Arch of Enoch; and the Hidden Church of the HolyGrail.

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FROM THG: First Order THG Empowerments, +OMR+, Martinist, Elus Cohen, FratresLucis (Illuminati)FROM GWB: Great Western Brotherhood Initiatic Core Program.FROM HOOM: Initiatic Core Program.

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Holds valid Charters, Warrants, and Lineages for all 22 classic European esoteric schools

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Unites medieval men’s and women’s mysteries in new presentation and format

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Synthesizes, reworks, edits, transforms Grail Paths for spiritual needs of 21st centurywomen and men

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Transmits true initiatic impulses that support “spiritual breakthrough” for individuals

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Empowers initiates for service and social-political transformation

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The higher initiations beyond Master are transmitted through a hodge-podge of degreesthat have accumulated to memorialize living or once-living European initiatic or chivalricorders. One does not study the curriculums of these orders, but merely watchessymbolic dramas representing honorary initiation into them. Most of the higher degreesin Scottish Rite, for example, are transmitted in one marathon weekend. Master Masonssit through each dramatic allegory, are given the symbols of the degree, and now havethe right to be high degree Masons! In half an hour they are “initiated” into, forexample, the Rosicrucian mysteries—a curriculum that would have required a lifetime ofstudy and training in a living order! Most Scottish Rite Masons have very little clue aboutthe many mysteries to which they have been introduced, and certainly no way of doingany serious study in them.

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Here is a chart that gives an overview of what we call the Grail of PansophicFreemasonry. Each Master has achieved valid and true status as Dame or Knight, and isthus known as a Knight or Dame Master. In addition to the chivalric Grail Path, they havemastered a minimum of two other Grail Paths, three of which may be continued beyondthe Knight-Master Degree in separate schools or orders. The Royal Arch Degree is merelyan administrative designation for Grand and Past Masters.

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Here is a chart that gives an overview of what we call the Grail of PansophicFreemasonry. Each Master has achieved valid and true status as Dame or Knight, and isthus known as a Knight or Dame Master. In addition to the chivalric Grail Path, they havemastered a minimum of two other Grail Paths, three of which may be continued beyondthe Knight-Master Degree in separate schools or orders. The Royal Arch Degree is merelyan administrative designation for Grand and Past Masters.